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 Introduction
 Part 1: The Dreamers
   A Secret to Success
   Three Eccentric Designers
  •Designers in Action
   The Rest of the Team
   Getting in the Door
 Part 2: Execution, Evolution,
      and Results
 Part 3: Art Nouveau
Behind the Games
Designers in Action
Despite their diverse histories and personalities, it's clear that Holland, Schafer, and Barwood share a large dose of mutual respect, and they play off each other like brothers. Barwood is usually the first to chime in with comments on issues, firm and resolute in his opinion; Holland is more reflective and mellow; Schafer is constructive yet whimsical. The interplay between them is a sight to behold - and if you can manage to get into one of the LucasArts biweekly design meetings, you can see it for yourself.

The biweekly project leader meetings at LucasArts are famous for being huge creative brainstorms and, by the very nature of their setup, huge creative brawls too. Although there is a always an underlying sense of respect in the room, the project leaders don't necessarily see eye-to-eye, nor do they always agree with each other about their respective game concepts. For instance, when Jedi Knight designer Justin Chin (who recently left LucasArts to form his own game company, Infinite Machines) originally pitched Jedi Knight in a project leader meeting, Barwood was against the idea.


Justin Chin's Jedi Knight survived the design meeting challenge and went on to be one of 1997's biggest hits.
Barwood admits that the meetings can cause quite a ruckus. "Project leaders are pretty unsparing in their criticism," he says. "We sort of foster that, and it's often tough to be the one who is the object of the suggestions, but I've really learned to value this situation. It helps you avoid being trapped by your imagination. Every now and then, people have better ideas than you do, and it's important to look for those things."


Barwood on the crossfire between project leaders: "It helps you avoid being trapped by your imagination."
Out of the fire of the design meetings, the strongest and most potentially exciting concepts emerge. And from there, a grueling process of exploration, refinement, and execution begins. More often than not, the end result is a world-class game. As Peter Molyneux puts it, "The mixture of damn good scripts, fine execution and artwork, and superb balance makes LucasArts games second to none."

And, not coincidentally, they sell pretty well too. No one at LucasArts will deny that the skillful management of the business of gaming has been critical to the company's long-term viability. But the creative force still reigns supreme. "We all love our marketing group, and it does a great job," says Barwood, "but they don't come to us and say, 'We need a little lizard that can climb the walls.' That's how it works in a lot of companies," he says, with a sigh in his voice. "The people that run our projects are the creative guys," he explains.

To Schafer, this is one of the key reasons why LucasArts is successful. "The biggest force inside the company is the creative force," he says. "The company wasn't started by venture capitalists, and I think it shows." (In fact, this is so much the case that Jack Sorrenson, the president of LucasArts, respectfully declined our request for an interview. He didn't want to take the spotlight away from the creative designers being profiled for this feature.)


"The company wasn't started by venture capitalists, and I think it shows," says Schafer.
All that being said, the business group obviously plays an important role in deciding which projects get the green light. If the company is going to spend millions of dollars on an idea, it must be reasonably sure it will at least break even. And even this process can have its humorous moments. One example is the tale of the approval process for Schafer's adventure game Full Throttle, which revolved around a Harley-riding biker called Ben. When Schafer took the concept to the marketing department, it said, "Well, our research shows us that there aren't a lot of people who own Harleys and a PC. Seems like a limited market." After he stopped laughing, Schafer explained the concept more fully, and the rest, as they say, is history.

But not every idea makes the cut. "We have very thin management here at the company," explains Barwood, "and there are only three or four people you must convince that your idea is good enough to spend a few million dollars on." However, he also admits that "most of us who have been here for a while have all experienced the painful process of being very enthusiastic about an idea that no one else was excited about."


Expensive 3D sets for Grim Fandango cost Barwood his Star Wars adventure.
Barwood goes on to discuss one game idea he had that didn't fly with management. "I had a Star Wars adventure game that was going to involve a lot of very expensive prerendered 3D sets," he says, demurely glancing over at Schafer. "However, a certain colleague of mine was already doing a game with a lot of prerendered sets, and the president of the company thought that we shouldn't risk doing two games that way."

As Barwood mentions this, Schafer's head tilts back and forth in amazement, a reaction that clearly suggests he didn't know anything about the situation. Schafer quickly pipes in and remarks, while looking straight at Holland, "You know, I was going to do this flight simulator and…"

Laughter erupts in the room.

Next: The Rest of the Team